Disclaimer: All characters belong to the queen J.K. Rowling and this is just a work of fan fiction.
Author notes: Whoa! Huge thanks to everyone who reviewed, favourite and followed. You guys made my day! This story is inspired by 'They didn't know we were seeds' by LucyLuna. That story is mind-blowing and you should check it out.
Also, I do not have a beta so any mistakes which are found are my own. Hope you like it!
The Second try.
Chapter Two: Remus Lupin.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The last thing he saw was the green light of the unforgivable hurling towards him. Then darkness. Then, something started poking him in the sides. It tickled. He batted his hand at the poker. And somebody giggled. A woman.
"Wake up sleepy head or in two days you'll sleep in on your first day at Hogwarts too."
'Can't have that. I have a reputation to maintain.' He sighed. 'Wait. The first day of Hogwarts?'
"WHAT!"
With those words, Remus shot up and with wide eyes, almost smashing his head into the woman before him.
"Mum?" She giggled at his expression and ruffled his hair.
"Relax Remus. It's still two days away."
"Wait. What? The first day of Hogwarts?" he asked hopelessly confused. 'There was a Hogwarts in the afterlife?'
"Well, yeah sleepy. The books you were devouring ever since we brought them? Remember? Did you pack? " she asked as she looked around the room and then back at him only to laugh at his bewildered expression.
"Mum."
"Yes, darling?"
"Is this heaven?"
Her eyes widened.
"What are you talking about Remus?"
"I died, right?"
"What! No darling, why would you say that!"
"But, I died. He killed me at Hogwarts," he mumbled back shakily, Dolohov's face printed in his mind's eye.
His mother pulled him into a tight hug, her face paling with his words.
"Nobody killed you, Remus. Nobody will." She pulled him out of the hug and looked at him, visibly shaken. "Don't you ever scare me like that, Remus Lupin. It's alright to be nervous but no one will know about your illness. No one will kill you over it. It was just a bad dream. It's common to have bad dreams when you are excited or nervous. I have dreamt I missed a train or two when I was younger. No more bad thoughts about your school. Do you hear me? Freshen up, love. I'll get started on the breakfast," and she kissed his cheek and left.
He sat there as if someone had petrified him. Everything his eyes saw, ears heard and nose smelled were familiar. Painfully familiar. 'Am I not dead? What is going on?! ' He saw his Hogwarts trunk, books stacked neatly next to it and a small nest of blankets and pillows. Still not believing what he saw, he rubbed his eyes with his hands and blinked. The image was the same and he noticed something else far more panicky.
Tiny. His hands were tiny. Upon pulling the blanket down, so were his legs and feet. He pinched his arm and the pain told him he was not dreaming. 'Did I get shrunk in the afterlife?' he got up and walked to the bathroom in a daze. He stripped off his pyjamas and saw himself. 'I hoped being in heaven would mean no scars. ' He stepped out of the bathroom and changed into normal clothes and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Think Lupin."
'So this was heaven? Or was it? I look like a kid and by the look of it, eleven and my Mum thinks I am alive and yet to go to Hogwarts and I have my trunk and everything …' He glanced at his calendar and his eyes almost popped out at the year. 'Is this actually happening? How on earth, have I gone back in time?'
"Breakfast is ready, Remus," his mother called out.
"Coming Mum!" he called out automatically.
'Might as well act normal and try to tackle this, one day at a time.' He saw his mother's worried gaze and gave her a soft smile. That seemed to reassure her and he tucked into his breakfast. It had been a long time since he had eaten food prepared by his mother. A VERY long time. He might as well enjoy it while it lasts. Heaven or no heaven.
He sat in his room after breakfast. He felt an insane urge to giggle. He, Remus Lupin. Werewolf. Husband and father to a new-born baby boy, had gone back in time to his eleven-year-old body. 'Crap! Tonks! Was she alright? And teddy? He had left him with Andy. He had to be alright. Harry! What had gone down after his death? Whatever happened, I know Harry would never give up. His honorary godson wouldn't. '
'Technically they weren't born yet,' his mind supplied. He laughed. 'True.' And then it hit him. This was his second chance. To make sure Harry lived a normal childhood, Sirius never suffered and to save the Potters. 'And Peter?' his mind asked and his fist clenched.
'To make sure Peter never betrays us.' His eleven-year mouth set in a grim line. He knew why Peter betrayed them. He was a coward. He did not have the courage to stand up against the Dark Lord. 'Jealousy also played a part, I suppose,' he mused. Peter always felt he was the underdog.
'I can change it. Make sure he knows that he is equal and important to the Marauders and then maybe, he won't join the Dark Lord. Oh Good Lord! He was going to get to see his friends again. Alive.' It would take all his self-control to act normal and not pull them into a hug when he saw them.
He spent the rest of the day thinking. 'Was he the only one? Did any others remember? How was he supposed to correct the mistakes of the future? Would any changes create more mistakes?'
This also meant he had to endure his transformations all over again. 'Does it make it easier? I don't think so. If the rest of the gang did not remember, would they still want to help him?'
He did not know what to think on that matter. On one hand, he wanted Prongs, Padfoot, and Wormtail to be with him and on the other; he did not want to risk their lives again.
'What if they get caught? What if I unconsciously push them to be animagus? No.' He would try not to. If he was alone in this back-in-time game, he would hide his furry little problem better. Not risk their lives and Snape's life again. He still hated that incident. He had to apologize to Snape too.
'Maybe by being friendlier? And this time, making sure James and Sirius don't pick on him? Or the other innocent first year snakes?' No more Mr. Quiet Lupin. His memories of his friends and seeing them alive would be more than enough if they didn't accept him this time. He would not let them get away with their "harmless" pranks.
He spent the rest of the days, reading his books and writing everything he remembered in detail about his life before the time-travel. Maybe if the Marauders accepted him, he would tell them after few years. 'Knowing them, James and Sirius would probably demand to know which pranks would work or fail and try to top their own pranks.' He smiled. He missed them so much. Two days. He would not waste his chance again. He had to try, for a better future.
